Twitter: Nobel Peace Prize Candidate?

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Those 140-character “tweets” coming from Iran might be enough to earn the microblogging site a Nobel Peace Prize, at least according to one source, and a respectable one, at that.

Mark Pfeifle, a former deputy national security adviser at the National Security Council, poses that possibility in an article he’s written for the Christian Science Monitor.

Pfeifle calls Twitter “a free social-messaging utility [that] drove people around the world to pictures, videos, sound bites, and blogs in a true reality show of life, dreams, and death.” He highlights one blogger’s efforts as a sort of “mythic tragedy,” which was dependent on Twitter if it were ever to be heard.

“In the past month,” Pfeifle writes, “140 characters were enough to shine a light on Iranian oppression and elevate Twitter to the level of change agent. Even the government of Iran has been forced to utilize the very tool they attempted to squelch to try to hold on to power.”

He says Twitter let us know about possible fraud and empowered the Iranian people with a passion that “resonates ... with millions across the globe.” And for these reasons, Twitter should be considered to stand beside Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and others who have won this prestigious honor.